is the blueprint in this world for the century? what is the blueprint that america should follow to ensure prosperity in the years to come? our friends across the other side of the aisle say that the blueprint is this, that if everybody but i believe in a different blueprint. i believe in the blueprint of roosevelt, investing in the g.i. bill, so that more isn't -- millions can get an education. i believe in the blueprint of johnson, shepherding medical care through congress, so millions and millions of senior citizens could get the health care they needed, and i believe in the blueprint of president obama and vice president biden, extending medical care to all americans across the united know that this is

the blueprint because it works like this. in the united states, we have always had a basic bargain. we expect you and your family to work hard, but when you do, we reward that hard work opportunity. , in more than just words. i know that from my own life. in the convention, i spoke about my grandmother. my grandmother came over in the united states as a six year-old orphan from mexico. she dropped out in elementary school, and because of that, she ended up working as a maid and and itter her whole life, and my brother grew up with my iandmother and my mother, and weember on april 3, 1992, got tito real packets in the mail, and these were from

stanford university. publicgone through the schools of san antonio, and we said, you know what? we are going to try to apply to the best schools in the united states, and on that date, we got that acceptance letter, and a couple of weeks later, we actually got the bill. it cost $20,000 per person to be able to attend stanford university. and my mother was making less than $20,000 that year, and my grandmother was getting a few hundred dollars in a social security check, and here were those two women, birth of whom -- both of whom had worked very, very hard in their life, watching their son and grandson with enormous opportunity and wondering how in the world they would be able to pay for it, and i can tell you this. the only reason that i was able to goch my american dream

to college and become a professional was because i work hard, and my family worked hard, but because there were pell grants and loans and studies and sanford loans. in other words, because i invested in myself, but fundamentally, i reached my dream because you invested in me, because the american people invested in me. that is america. that is what is great about this nation. that is the blueprint for success in the 21st century. we know that in san antonio. last november, for the first time ever, the voters said yes to educational initiatives. over 22 thousand four-year-old in san antonio when now get a high quality full-day pre- kindergarten indications that we

have the best repaired and best educated, most likely to succeed kids in the whole state of texas. [applause] my grandmother, when i was young, she used to tell me stories about when she was a girl. and she told me that after she was pulled out of school that she used to go work the fields with her family. now, this is the first time that i have really been in iowa. i have to admit, i lost in a game a few years ago, that this is really the first time i have been in iowa, and when we were coming in on the plane, i looked out the window on to iowa, and i saw all of the fields of the and i thought how proud she would have been that she had been picking crops and

her grandson would be here where you guys pick a president of the united states. that is the american dream. [applause] and so we have the blueprint. we know what we have to do. we need to continue to elect great leaders, like president obama and vice president biden, and, of course, congress and the soon-to-be senator, and keep callng and keep phone making, and i look forward to of november 2016. i will be san antonio. i will probably have the television on. i am sure you guys will be at some election night victory party somewhere. i look forward to watching cnn abc, and i nbc and look forward to the moment when break here him on fox news calls

this will be says the democratic nominee. thank you very much. applause]d >> that was great. thank you, julian. aw, just remain standing for second. , so wew, their birthday are going to give them the best happy birthday. ♪ happy birthday to you happy birthday to you castrosrthday, dear happy birthday to you ♪ [applause]

to have asy honored our keynote speaker the vice president of the united states. do notd you, i am sure i need to remind you that he first ran for president in 1987 and 19 88. he spent so much time in iowa, he spent so much time in iowa that he has friends all over this state. i am pretty sure he is and i went at heart. wan at heart.o so he does not really need an introduction, but there are a few things i want to say about my great friend.

for years, joe was a powerful senator. now, he is the second most powerful person in the world, but he is the same decent, unpretentious, approachable joe who was elected to the senate in 1972 at the ridiculously young age of 29. all the years he served in the senate, very seldom did you see him after hours in the washington social swirl. as ruth said, when the senate quit work for the day, he was over at union station. he got on the train, the ride back to wilmington, delaware, to spend the evenings with his family. and that has meant a lot to ruth and me, because the job pulls you in a lot of directions, and there is always demands on your time. there is always demands to do something in the evening, and la

laid the rolled down, no more than two nights a week out, and we of bothered by joe, and yet, here was biden, every night getting on that train, going back to his family. says just about more about a person than anything else, that he cared about his family most of all. [applause] never lost touch. with his humble roots, he has always been a fighter area he understands, as i said, what it means to be middle-class. know, joe has known tragedy in his own life, and i can tell you his eyes and his heart are always open to the struggles of others. and during his 36 years in the senate, there was always one place to find joe biden, at the center of the action.

he chaired the judiciary committee during some of the most contentious supreme court confirmation hearings, clarence thomas, and he chaired the foreign relations committee at a transformational time in our u.s. foreign policy, following the attacks of 9/11. he also made his mark on criminal justice issues, including the 1990 crime bill and the violence against women act. joe biden's bill. [applause] and understand this. credit,r, to his great ourour country's, he lead party and our country in recognizing the justice of marriage equality for all americans. joe biden. [applause]

so we all know why joe biden is so popular here in iowa wherever he goes. he is the real deal. president obama calls him america's happy warrior. a smart, witty, tireless comic irreverence, irreverent -- [laughter] irreverent?n it [laughter] [applause] and we know he is also on silence a bowl -- unsilenceable. i wish we could put into words what joe biden means to me, coming to the house and the senate, and having him as one of guiding me and in stilling in me his values, the

great values he always has, of understanding why we are there, why we are there, not for our own glory, not to make the comfortable comfortable, but to help those that need a government so that they, too, have what castro said, the opportunities for advancement and growth in america. i just, as i said many times, i always want to refer to the vice president, with all due respect as mr. vice president, but i have got to tell you. me not to just call him my good friend, joe biden. >> thank you. "joe, joe, joe, joe!"]

it is good to be back in iowa. so many good friends. how are you? toms great to be here with and ruth and all of you, and let me start by saying that tom and sends his love and support and affection, and he , and youerved in iraq continue to do what you do for our administration, taking care of vets, so they will not be forgotten, and i look forward to coming over and visiting you in your office. folks, i know the mayor will find this as a shock, but it is amazing when you come to speak, the whole lot of people seem to take notice. i do not know why the hell that is. you have attracted the entire

national press corps here. and i just, i just have never quite understood it, but i am learning. look, folks. when the mayor was talking about he mentioned st. thomas more, and he said halley did not realize thomas more -- the catholics refer to it as the patron saint of liars and judges of attorneysars -- and generals, and i do not want mutual this into a admiration society, but i know and whenuth very well, he made that reference, it reminded me that there is a play about that period when thomas

more was taking on henry the and refusing to change the loss of the could get married, remarried, and there is a famous scene in that play, a man for all seasons, where his a fellow named roper, and roper came over, it turns out, at the urging of the king's men to try to get him to law.omise and overlook the there was a famous exchange that reminds me, and it will remind you, of tom. he said, responding to roper, roper, and if i cut down all of ,he laws in england to do that what will you do when the devil turned round on you then, roper?

these are god's laws, not man's, and he went on to point out you have to stand sometimes in spite of inordinate pressure. that is what i have watched tom do, and i mean this. it is not hyperbole. seen it also. i have served with a lot of great women and men in the senate, but none with the conscience, none with the north star, none with more certitude about why he ran for office in the first place then tom, and let me tell you, thom's work is obvious. everybody knows about his work with americans with disabilities, the americans with disabilities act, but the thing that people do not realize, and tom and ruth and i were talking about it on the way over, and i

said it earlier, first of all, few men and women get to see the fruits of their labor, especially when, in fact, that labor was in the face of overwhelming opposition, overwhelming competition. tom took on the opposition and took on everyone, but not only lives ofhange the millions and millions of americans with disabilities, in the same way with his program in schools that educate children to the degree to which they are ucatable, hewl -- ed did something remarkable. we do not think about it erie it he changed all america. people into not looking at the disabled at all

or looking at them with nothing , to havingy and pity them look at them as equals, having them look at them in ways that value all that they had to offer. tom, you have not only changed the state of affairs for the disabled in america, you have changed america's soul. think how different it is than what it was 25 years ago. what people look for, a bold or disabled, is to be treated with dignity, treated with respect, and that is what tom changed. i cannot think of a handful of , and i and i have served am told it was supposed to make me feel good, it made me feel

of, all but 13 people american history i have served longer in the senate. [applause] and so, it is astounding. but time does not leave it to just what happened here at home. think of what tom has done and how loud his voice has been for those around the world, not only for the disabled, but the persecuted. not only the disabled, but the people who, in fact, have no voice. tom has never been afraid to speak out. from the war in vietnam to the death squads in central america, of everythinghes from genital mutilation of young to what is going

on in syria. voice has had a pro impact on how we view ourselves, and today, he remains the conscience of the senate. tom does not allow anyone comfort in the democratic caucus, and i mean this sincerely, comfort of denial. because oft permit his voice the willing suspension of disbelief that so many of us would rather engage in because, darn, these problems are hard, to recognize them, to acknowledge them on and it places a burden on us. the good news is we have tom for another time. another effort your years. [applause]

and the good news, and i have gotten to know ruth and caroline well. i campaigned with them. he won in spite of me in 2006, 2008, 2010, and i think in every one of your campaigns, i got to see him. i got to see him up close and personal, and i got to see the same thing that impressed his constituency. in 2006, it was not a certain thing, but i watched people react, like you watched people react. you have been engaged in politics. you can feel it. you can taste it, right? i observed about how people respond, the same reason tom admires me and why i think he is going to be a great senator, he is absolutely authentic. he does not have a phony bone in his body.

[applause] i told bruce i would come and campaign for him, or not, which ever would help him the most. [laughter] folks, look. when the president knew i was coming, he wanted me, and i mean this sincerely, i spend a freeware to six hours a day together, and we have become close friends. i am with him a lot. he is a hell of a man, and he wanted me to thank you. no, seriously. me if ihat he will ask thank you, to thank you what you did for him personally, but also thank you for delivering iowa for us in 2008 and again in 2012. [applause]

and michelle and barack and i would not be standing there if it were not for you. the heart and soul of this party, and this has been the key to our ability to govern. from that day of august 2008 when the ticket was announced, the president and i have had a laser focus on one thing, raising up the middle class. the middle-class has been battered, as you all know. it has been battered not just in the eight years that preceded us but really the decline began much earlier. ido not know how many times walked the picket line. i do not know how many times i have been with you in your hometown as factories were being padlocked and jobs were being and the people

who have had the ability to raise their families, decent income, watching it all evaporate before them. and i am being absolutely literal. one thing i have learned in america, no one ever doubts i mean what i say. the problem is i usually say all that i mean. literally, and they kid me for using literally often, and i do. but, folks, literally, the president and i have a handshake when he asked me to join him. i asked him only one question. was he as committed as he says he was to rebuilding the middle him there i also told were two things i would not do as vice president. wear any funny hats, and i would not change my brand,

and i have kept my promise, but he has kept his. kept his. ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you how we will measure the success and failure of the administration. it will not be whether or not the gdp continues to grow, and it is growing. it won't be whether or not the stock market has returned and exceeded its highs, which it has. it will not be whether or not we create just any old job. success, and our it is absolutely the commitment we made to one another. the absolute measure of success of our ministration will be whether or not the middle class is growing, and the things that allow it to grow and allow it for security are able to be put in place again, providing real economic security and peace of

mind, creating real jobs, jobs you can raise a middle-class that have jobs, jobs built this country. unlike any other country in the world, we are uniquely a product of having the largest middle class in the world. when the middle class does well, the wealthy do very well, and the poor have an opportunity. the president believes and has demonstrated that to grow the economy as you always have from the middle out, not from the top down, and he has acted on that believe. the president of the united states and i along with all of you understand, you have heard me say a number of times, and i will keep saying it. the middle-class is not a number. it is not $50,250.

it is a value set. the middle class in america is about being able to own your own home and not rent it. keep your farm, not have to sell it, about being able to live in a safe and decent neighborhood, to send your kids to a school that if they do well, they have a chance of getting into college, and if they get into college, like a rock, like me, like michelle, like the mayor, like his brother, like jill, having an equal chance to get their not based on your income but based on the fact that you earned it and you work for it, and you have a chance. the american story. it is brought home time and again by every succeeding generation. it is a story of the history of the progress of this country. it is about being able to be lucky enough to put a little

your aside so maybe children will not have to take care of you when you have to take care of your elderly parents. to beng the opportunity able to find a decent job because, because your government has fought on your behalf, not gotten in your way. my dad used to have an expression. stories, and i know so many of you personally, your story is no different than mine. or quite frankly, in a fundamental way, no different than the mayors. what is it all about? . will never forget everybody asks me why -- by the way, the president has made everyone in delaware very upset because he talks about me being the guy from stanton all the time. i am proud of it, but i

represented delaware for 36 years. it makes me sound like i was a kid who climbed out of the coal mines with a lunch bucket in my head -- hand. it was not that. my life was not a whole lot different from yours. after the war, in the early 1950 but he is, there were no good jobs, and i room or my dad coming and sitting down, and you remember this story. you have seen it. my dad sitting on the edge of the bed at my grandfather's house. to wilmington, delaware, and there were jobs down there. set i get a job and get all up, i am going to bring back, and i'm going to bring you and mom and jimmy. it is only 150 seven miles, honey, and i will be back once a week. i remember thinking at the time that it was absolutely lousy, but i remember my dad thinking it was going to be ok, so i

thought it was going to be ok, and from that moment on as we were raised, in wilmington delaware, every time we learned of somebody losing a job during the recession or losing the job my dad used reason, to say, and all my siblings can the jobs have brought a lot more than a paycheck. it is about your dignity. it is about respect. it is about being able to take

care for a of a and of those things, legitimately or in the power of the government, could make it possible to enhance and all but and that is why the first in his and something he passed the afford and he decided that instead of seeing those factories padlocked, he wanted them open. he began to fight i'm and hollow out the creating good jobs, creating good jobs for process. manufacturing jobs brought back to the united states of america. 500,000 of them since is a novelist with high-tech industries for which there are not trained people. in combination here arrested $2 billion in community college and at the rescuer of the of a more real and mystery -- automobile industry, creating 300,000 jobs, saving millions.

energy costs, reducing the cost of energy for middle-class families, doubling mile in standards, saving $1.70 trillion. over 12 billion barrels of imported oil. ladies and gentleman we are the world's leading producer of oil and the double renewable energy, and i will not take the time, but college affordability, we have increased the number by 3 million since taking office. how over 9 million middle-class families can keep their kids in college because of a troy $500 it will not double or have to pay vat and ladies and despite this this is his to a since to doesn't 8. and his leadership has reduced the national debt by $2.50 trillion. we have created 7.5 million new jobs have and the most educated and they do not understand why

we cannot generate besiegers and we can generate you can understand me. the list goes on from a and they want to talk down to america's trossachs >> age java is allah and it goes beyond the job. it goes beyond how you treat the people of our country. and i could the iran silent any more. and 11 even regina and 11 million people came out of the shadows to get their opportunity to treat those people with dignity. that is what has been expressed mckenna and as in essence the somehow i will prepare for is this issa of ahead he will use that, and it is not a as a and a review the in made for us. >> president is absolutely my daughter and four granddaughters will have every single solitary

opportunity my sons and ran funds have and it is not. >> i have been saying this for the last four years. the american people are weighing in. you notice that when we announced our gay marriage decision, the american people agreed with us. immigration, what a surprise, the american people are always ahead of leadership. ladies and gentleman, it has always been the story and history of the journey of this country that the american people of being head ladies and gentlemen, it's always been the story of the history of the journey with this country that the american people have been ahead. i know i have been criticized for saying it and i will say it again, that's what makes america exceptional. in the area of foreign policy, the president and i were determined from the outset to reestablish that notion of a shining city on a hill, where we are once again the most respected nation in the world, we are once again looks to not just for the example of our power, but the power of our example. that is why the world has repaired to america for so long. we told you at this steak fry in 2007 at opposite ends of the platform, but he and i said the exact same thing,

coincidentally. we said the first order of business if either of us were elect and would be to and the war in iraq and we did. we ended the war in iraq. [applause] the president gave me the responsibility of coordinating the effort to end the war trade the proudest moment as vice president was ending in this god awful gaudy palace of saddam hussein before american troops and iraqi troops and having the great honor of dismissing the american troops and saying like every american troop it for you, you are going home with nothing in hand but the certain knowledge that you did your job and you are coming home. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, we promised you we would end the war in afghanistan, and i guarantee you we will end the war in afghanistan. [applause] but what we believe from the outset, everybody says why have you become such good friends? i have great respect for everyone for whom -- with whom i ran into thousand seven.

but if you go back and look at those 13 debates, the only two people who never disagreed on a single, solitary subject in those debates were barack obama and joe biden. the reason i tell you that is this -- this has been seamless. it has been a great honor to work for him, worked under him, work with him. because from the outset in foreign policy, he was determined, as i was, that the best way to defend our national interest was working in consort with the international community, not at odds with it. obviously every president reserves the right to act alone if american interests are at stake. but he knows we are much stronger when we act in consort with our allies in the international community. that is exactly how he stepped up to deal with the atrocities of -- that were occurring in syria, with a fundamental violation of human rights by the use of gas for the first time without the world responding since early on at the end of world war i.

others have used it, but he was not going to allow it to happen on his watch. yesterday, as the president said, the use of chemical weapons anywhere in the world is an affront to human dignity and a threat to the security of people everywhere. let me note parenthetically that i think john kerry has been one of the best secretaries of state so far in the history of the united states of america. [applause] because the president charged him when the president when do the g-8, he is the one who raised with vladimir putin why don't we jointly, why don't we jointly, since it's not an either of our interests to allow the largest stockpile in the world to go unattended, why don't we jointly moved to the let me note parenthetically that united nations and jointly secure it and destroy it?

a lot of cynics were of the view that putin would not respond, but he did respond, not because he's a good guy, because it's in his naked self-interest. the naked self interest of russia to see these weapons not fall into anyone's hands.

as a consequence of the incredible work of john kerry with his counterpart, the foreign minister of russia, we are going to the united nations

with a resolution this week that will in fact call on the united nations and the world to put pressure on syria to have the confiscation and destruction of all those weapons. ladies and gentlemen, as the president has said, while we made important progress, much work remains to be done. the united states will continue working with russia, the united kingdom, france, the united nations, to ensure this process is verifiable and there are consequences should assad regime not comply to the framework agreed to. the president's vision is absolutely clear and absolutely straightforward. he in fact is the reason why the world community is facing up finally to this hideous aspect of these largest stockpile in the history of chemical weapons being confiscated and destroyed. ladies and gentlemen, we have a clear vision of america.

it rest on a growing and prosperous middle class where the playing field is level, where the middle class has a fighting chance, and where again we lead the world by the power of our example, ending torture, ending the war, refusing to yield to the baser side of human nature. i am absolutely convinced -- i said to tom, he and i came into politics at about the same time. when i got elect it is a 29- year-old kid, i was referred to as the young idealist. even to this day, even on the old guy in the white house, they talk to me of -- talk about me as the white house optimist. i am an optimist. i am more optimistic about america's chances today than when i was one i arrived as a 29-year-old kid. there is not a single reason in the world why we will not leave

the world of the 21st century trade the reason for that is really simple. whenever the american people have been given half a chance, they have never, never, never ever let their country down. that is what my president is about, making sure the people have an even chance. as i told the president of china, who i know well, as i told mr. putin when i last had a conversation with him, it is never, ever been a good that tube that against the american people. god bless you all very god bless our president and may god protect our troops. thank you. [applause] ♪

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patric \ >> reacting to the letter, president obama released a statement that reads --

>> monday night -- >> this symbolizes all of that. this is helen taft's inaugural gap. occasion, nots only her entry into the white house, but really added it as a mark of first ladies on the united states. when she came the first lady to donate her down to the smithsonian institution, she established the tradition that first ladies would donate their inaugural gown to the collection. every first lady after helen taft who had an inaugural ball had an inaugural gown. , life of the taft 27th president, william howard taft. monday night at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. andrewght, q and a with

base of it. later, vice president joe biden. >> this week on "q&a," andrew bacevich discusses his newly released book. >> andrew bacevich, your new book talks about vietnam.